There’s no news on trams coming to Bristol yet. But a month after being elected as Mayor, Helen Godwin has announced plans for a bold new move in public transport across the West of England Combined Authority (WECA). Young people and children under the age of 16 are set to be free to travel on buses during the school holidays.
Travel for children and young people aged from five to 15 years old is currently capped at £1 per journey (already free under five). But around 150,000 kids in the West of England could benefit from free bus travel this summer—announced at Hengrove Play Park on Monday (June 9), with pupils from Perry Court E-ACT Academy.
“Together, we are building the kind of bus service that local people deserve,” said Helen Godwin, Mayor of the West of England. “Our £1 child fare is already one of the cheapest tickets in the whole country, but, ideally, children and young people should be able to travel by bus for free.
“It’s right that we help people save money and encourage greener travel, and this scheme would do just that. With free travel for 150,000 kids, local families will more easily have busloads of fun during the school holidays. This is just the start for a new chapter for the West of England.”
The school summer holidays will start on July 19, with free travel running until September 5 across Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire (subject to the final approval). There’ll be no need for a bus pass or any type of registration—kids can hop on and go! There will be exemptions, however, like for airport services.
Bath Bus Company, First Bus, Stagecoach, and the Big Lemon were also part of the recent event, which featured one of the hundreds of new zero-emission electric buses heading to the West over the coming months and years—following the electrification of First Bus’ Hengrove bus depot.
This news also follows last month’s extension of free bus travel, all-year-round, for care leavers across the West aged up to 25 years old. This, on top of last week’s news that the West of England is set to receive a record £752 million of transport funding for better buses, more trains, and mass transit, could mark a huge change to public transport in Bristol.